Clearview school district receives $40,000 grant for science curriculum training
Andy Polhamus South Jersey TimesGloucester County Times
http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2013/05/clearview_receives_40k_grant_f.html#incart_river

Representatives from the Boeing Company will present the Clearview school district with a grant for $40,000 at a school board meeting Thursday night. The grant will help finance a summer training program at Clearview that will instruct science teachers in modeling, a method of teaching sciences that is gaining popularity all around the world. Teachers from all over the United States, as well as countries like Ghana and Australia, will visit Clearview for training.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Ron Antinori, instructional supervisor of science, career and technical education, and family and consumer sciences at Clearview. “The things that Clearview and the teachers here are doing are exciting people all over. I can’t thank the teachers enough for the work they’ve done.”

Modeling favors an interactive approach to science education, with students leading class discussions and building on existing knowledge as the course moves from one topic to the next. Clearview introduced the program four years ago and found that students learning sciences through modeling grew in performance at twice the rate of students using traditional curriculum.

“Since we started here, we’ve seen great things,” said Antinori. “This grant is impacting not just Clearview teachers, but teachers throughout the county, throughout the state, even internationally.” Half of this year’s freshman have signed up for two science classes next year, and nearly a quarter of Clearview’s upperclassmen have enrolled in AP science courses. Although Clearview initially used modeling to teach physics, the district now uses the method for chemistry and biology classes as well.

The grant will pay for registration fees and lodging for the visiting teachers, who will stay at Rowan University while attending training at Clearview. About 60 teachers will receive instruction in modeling curriculum and pedagogy through July and early August. The check will be presented to the district at the school board meeting on Thursday, May 29, at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be in the Clearview administration building, 420 Cedar Rd., Mullica Hill.